Gebran Tueni's Memorial

This year, I went to the grave, I needed to see. Still hard to believe.

The funeral this year was much better than last year; it wasn't full of politics, at least not that obvious. There weren't any parties' flags or riots, a simple quite gathering and honoring a great man.

Ghassan didn't show up, unlike the past two years, and Nayla was leading the scene. Seems like the rumors of her running for MP is true, especially with the presence of Nadim Gemayel there as well.

Pictures speeks more than words, and so I'll leave ya with a couple of them.

May your soul rest in peace Gebran.

Ghassan Tueni.....

This is the editorial of Annahar for Friday December 15th, 2008 by Ghassan Tueni....

تستشهدُنا من بعدك كلّ نهار يا ابني، يا حبيبي!

أمضي، في الفراغ الذي تركتَ من بعدك في دنيا الحياة، أسألك: لماذا، لماذا؟ أسأل طيفك الذي يحوم حولي ويُثقل الفراغ بصوتك الذي لا يهدأ، مروراً بقَسَمك حاملاً صداه هدير جماهير "ساحة الشهداء" إياها، وكأنها امتدّت وتمتدّ بنا وبالسابقين واللاحقين من قرن إلى قرن: لماذا لم تخف من الموت؟ لماذا كسرت التنبيه وهرولت الى الشهادة وكأنك على موعد مع القتلة الذين كنا وكنتَ تعرف أنهم ينتظرونك؟ لماذا ذلك الزهد بالذات وبالحياة؟...

أحمل على شفتيّ وهج القبلة التي لم أجد جبينك لأطبعها عليه قبل أن يلفّك التراب، ولا تركوني ألمس وجهك الضاحك لأغسل عنه بدموعي آثار البارود الذي أحرقَك وأحرقَ قلبي وقلوب محبيك والمتعبّدين للوطن والحرية كلهم... التراب الذي لم يبرد ولم يتحجّر من ثلاث سنوات ليس حاجزاً بيننا وبين الموت الذي تسكن! الموت صار هو حياتنا، فأعرف أنك تسمعني وأنك استمررت تنظر إلى كل ما صرنا إليه من بعدك...

لا عزاء لنا بعد... لكن العزاء آتٍ، لأن ليس في التاريخ – ولا القدر – منطق أو ناموس يسمح بأن تذهب الشهادة سدى... فاصبر وانتظر في كنف الحب المؤمن الذي يُدفئ غربتك، أعرف... لن تنتظر إلى الأبد، لأن الأبدية صارت خلفنا ووراءك. إفتح عينيك يا ابني، يا حبيبي. ساعة اليقظة لا بدّ آتية، ويأتي لقاؤك مع المؤمنين بقَسَمك، فتراهم كيف يتجاوبون. الشهداء لا يشعرون بيأس لأنهم يدركون بحماسة الشهادة أنهم يستمرون يستشهدوننا معهم بفرحٍ إلى ساعة القيامة الآتية في تاريخٍ، إذا أردناه، هكذا ما كان منظوراً، فهو هو، لا سواه، المنتصر على الموت. ليس القتلة الذين ينتصرون ولو اغتالوا الشهداء ببربرية تحرق الأجساد... ولو غرّروا بعقول الذين يصدقونهم

فالروح الباقية أبداً أقوى من البارود ومن نار الجحيم الذي فتحوا أبوابه ليُطلقوا ناره... ستحرقهم هذه النار إياها لأنها سترتد عليهم... فلنؤمن معاً!

عهد علينا يا ابني كل نهار: لن نستسلم للنار مهما اشتعلت! ولن نخاف الموت الزائل أمام دفع الحياة.

الشهادة الدائمة الحياة تشترينا وتقيمنا حتى من الموت وتُحيينا. فلنؤمن ولا نتردد!
غسان تويني

The fate of free men is that they are always free, even from their beloved ones.

May your soul rest in peace dearest Gebran

The Fate of Free Men

3 years have passed, and I still look every thursday at Annahar, hoping to see a new editorial by your pen...

3 years have passed, and I still unable to come near your grave....

3 years have passed, and I still can't believe you are gone....

To my role model, to my star, to my idole, to my father....

May your sould rest in Peace, WE WON'T EVER FORGET YOUR PATH....

No Comment

I saw this car while passing through Gemmayze earlier today.....

Read what he has printed above his plate number....

I guess the guy had his share of accidents.... lol

The Audacity of Liban

We (regardless of what you consider “we”; Arabs, Orientals, Phoenicians, or Lebanese) are born and raised on our rich heritage. We take so much pride in our history, in our achievements, and mostly in our set of morals and values. It is our way to face the West; while they have the power, the technology, and the prosperity, we have the history, the heritage, and the morals and values for a better life.

And as much as I take personal and deep pride in all that mentioned above, I can’t but to stand in honor to a great nation, that have taught the whole world, yet again, the real meaning of the “Land of Opportunities”. This nation, has come through its relatively small history far beyond many of the nations of the world, and have reached a level of democracy that many can’t even DARE to dream about.

Obama has showed us that hope is not a weakness, that dreams are not hopeless, and that audacity of hope can be far more superior and effective, when we simply believe that we can make a CHANGE.

In only 60 years, the US jumped from a country full of racism and hate, to a country where White people are cheering and supporting their first-ever African-American president.

At the same time, I can’t not to remember a great man, an ever-living martyr, who had the same dream, the same hope and the everlasting audacity to call for a truly independent Liban. His words, his courage and his wisdom motivated, and are still motivating us to BELIEVE in Liban.

Dearest Gebran, we won’t lose faith, and we won’t ever give up hope. We can, and we will cause the CHANGE you always promised us. The road may be long and dark, but it is our BELIEVE that will guide us through. We struggled for 30 years to gain our independence, and we won’t stop, even if it takes us another 30, 60 or even 100 years, till we see the Liban we have always had the AUDACITY to dream, hope, and seek.

God bless your soul, rest assured that even though the current situation looks gloomy, but we are still here, and we are still strong, and we didn’t give up….not yet.

Gorillity.....

As you are all aware, this blog has been out of actions for months now. Mostly because I'm just sick of the whole political scene in Liban lately.

Nevertheless, I was really touched by the recent news of that Gorilla, who refused to give in her dead baby, and carried him/her around in a touchy scene that says a lot. Below you can see the mourning mom carrying her baby in pain an grief.


On the very same day at the hospital (pediatrics ward) came a 9-year-old-child in an emergency directly from Tripoli.
The poor kid was shot by a gun he was playing with!!!! Yes you are reading this correctly, the 9-year-old-kid was playing with a gun. In fact, his own father was teaching him how to use the gun, when a bullet was accidentally fired, targeting the kid at his neck level...leaving him with total paralysis and on mechanical ventilators.

Not only that, but while we were doing everything possible to save the poor kid, his father and uncle were discussing the new refile the father just bought, and how he got his hands on special shells; that explode upon hitting its target, causing even more damage, and showing the rest of the family the new video he took while firing mortars shells in Tripoli during the last clashes!!!!!

His own son was dying, and all he was thinking about is bragging about his new killing weapon!!!

They say HUMANITY....we have reached a stage where we would be asking for some GORILLITY instead.......

Liban Celebrates Sleiman

Today, Liban, all of Liban is celebrating the new president. The amount of joy, happiness and hope in the country is unbelievable, and let me add, illogical. But it seems the Lebanese are simply "fed up" of the whole political struggle, and they are willing to "turn a blind eye" and just hold on to any hope.

But today is not a day to analyze what is going to happen, or how things are to progress. The country has been without a president for over 6 months now, and just couple of weeks ago, the whole country was about to vanish. So we SHOULD celebrate the back to normalcy, at least for the time being. As Imrou El-Kays put it AGES ago: "Elyawm khamr, w ghadan amr" "Today we drink, tomorrow we act"......

The After Math

Now that life has got back to its norm in Beirut, and to the rest of Lebanese areas. It's a good time to sit, thin and analyze the after math of the last escalations.

Of course, depending on what side you are supporting, the conclusions will be totally different, as it's the thing with everything is Liban lately...

Nevertheless, there are certain points that no one can deny:

• The so-called "Holly Arsenal" has gone with the wind; HA is just another militia that its arsenal needs to be "organized" or better yet "disarmed".
• HA has lost all kinds of support, or even sympathy among the vast majority of Sunnies, Druze, as well as a significant proportion of Christians (including HA's own allies).
• There's no such thing as the "State's Power"; Liban is a big farm, where every "cock" govern his "chicken" and agreeing to live next to other "cocks".
• EVERY DAMN BODY in the country is armed; with HUGE varying degrees of course in both amount and experience. Nevertheless, they are all armed, and always ready to start "killing".
• The "Tolerant" Sunnies received a huge "blow", and fundamentalists, radicals and extremists are starting to appear again, demanding the return of "Jihadism", asking for "Revenge", and worst of all, Sunni youth giving support to such movements.
• Sectarian hate and clashes had reached the roof! There are calls from Beirut Sunnies to "Ban dealing with any Shiite", and Shiites insisting more than ever, that there only salvation is HA, never the State.
• So long for the days of "Free press". Nowadays, closing down TV stations, radios, and newspapers has become the new "fashion" in Liban.
• The Army has proven one more time, that it can't protect its people; all it can do is wait for the killing to stop, to put a meaningless "check point", and count the casualties from both sides, asking for public awareness to "bury" the escalations!
• Another "Dialog Session", another "endless hope" from poor Lebanese, asking for nothing but for things to settle down, so they can live and raise their kids.
• Liban has lost once again. Lebanese, all Lebanese has lost one more time. And the worst thing ever is that people are "celebrating" whenever their party members "kill" or "Destroy" members or properties of others.
• HA's has become a major problem, and we can't go on like that anymore, but what can March 14th do about it? How can convince HA to disarm its arsenal? Especially after the last escalations?

Here's an awful example of how much sectarian hate has escalated, even among the youth: (Though I don't accept messages of hate in my blog, but it is necessary to show how bad things have become lately).

"If the shiates keep up with their messages of HATE, all of Lebanon will be wiped out one day...
Right now, I HATE you so much...I didn't before...I always though we were all one....but you scare me and one day I will be strong enough enough to fight you back...unless of course you become more human and start thinking with your head and open up your hearts...
righht now you are animals...I wish you humanity"


"ma3leh i can understand 3asabeytkon w msabetkon bel ekher **** em manate2kon byoum w 3ezzetkon da3asna 3layha b se3at fa basita 3awwo 3al facebook la teshba3o:) wle wen kento wa2t el ma3arek kento bzaweya el byoot ya **** mennak 2elo, halla2 jeyeen tshedo marajel basita el mohem 3refto 7ajmkon wel marra el jey eb2o nzalo 3al shere3 w farjouna 7ajmna EZA FIKON...allah w nasrallah ya kleb el 7ariri"


"mabrook 2awal 2entisar lal 7izib ......5ali nasrallah ya3ref meen l druze...w 2allah yer7am shohade2na li ra7o defe3an 3an l karami wil wojod...3alay 2om l rejal w 3alay 3om l 2a7rar w 3alay 2awal daress l motghatressen l fores"

Where are we going? What's next? God knows!

I Was Wrong!

I was wrong.
To every man, women, teenager which has ever read my blog, I want to say I'm sorry.

I was wrong....
When I defended HA

I was wrong....
When I considered it a legitimate "resistance"

I was wrong....
When I went into endless argument that HA is one of us

I was wrong....
When I thought that the "Arsenal" will never be used against other Lebanese

I was wrong....
When I asked the whole world to condemn Israeli savage on Liban, and never mentioned HA


I was wrong,
When I had a small hope that one day, we can see a free Liban without having to go into bloody clashes with HA

To correct my mistakes, I want to say I'm sorry.

To correct my mistakes, I must call things by its name

HA: A Sectarian, fundamentalist, terrorist MILITIA.

We won't give up, we won't stop. Our dream of a free, democratic, independent Liban will come true. You can occupy us, you can kill us, but you will NEVER EVER take away our FREEDOM...

The Choice Is Yours!

Today, we showed the whole world that we have two Lebanons! In fact, we showed the world that we are two opposites that can NEVER meet!

Irony of life...the smallest country is waging war against Israel and Syria at the same time!


In Martyrs' Square, M14 came strong, sending the strongest message against the Syrian regime ever, accusing it of being an "Israeli Product", insisting on electing General Sleiman as the next president at any costs, and threatening "their enemies" that the Tribunal is coming to harvest their necks.
But one can't mess how M14 didn't mention its rejection of the 10-10-10 formula! All of them were clear in refusing the "Blocking third", all of them insist on the Arab Summit initiative, but NONE of them rejected the 10-10-10 formula. It seems everything is set up! General Sleiman is to be elected, and a 10-10-10 Government is to be made, at least this is what M14 seems to be wanting.


In the Southern Suburb, HA was waging an "open war" against Israel, accusing it of assassinating HA's senior officer, Meghneyya, and promising to eliminate Israel from existence. Nasrallah was clear in saying that "June 2006 war is far from over, and everything that is going on nowadays, is nothing but a part of this "Long-Lasting" war. Nasralla told Jumblatt without mentioning his name directly "If you want devorce, you can leave to your masters in USA, or Tel Aviv"
On the other hand, Nasrallah didn't mention one word about electing the president, nor about the next Government, other than the "usual" refusal of "dividing" or "federalizing" Lebanon, and the ever-lasting commitment to keep the country a "resistant Lebanon", in an open war against Israel.


Gloomy picture is being drawn, the nation has proved today, with no doubt, that it is a divided one. One side waging war against Israel, another waging it against the Syrian regime, with half of the Country's population down in streets, under the rain, irony of life!!!!



The question remains though, where is the FPM? The one crowd that was missing was the FPM!! Where do they stand? Where should they have been today? In Martyrs's Spuare? Or in the Southern Suburb? What is that you are going to do Orange General? The Choice is yours!

Being Lebanese

Every time I feel that things are going to the unknown, I like to take a break from the whole mess, and go away for a while.

Between the "gunshots" and the "War talks and actions" that seems to be the new fashion of the political leaders in Liban lately (as if no one can see the "shit" we are in already), I thought that nothing can take me away from this madness but to go to "Prague" in Hamra.

To those of you unfamiliar with the place (if that is in any way possible!!), it is one of the most famous, most popular pub/restaurant in Beirut, with an amazing "home feeling" atmosphere, and always an excellent taste of music.

I sat with a dear friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a long time, no news, no politics, just lots and lots of catching up. It sure helped me forget the "shit" we are living nowadays.

As I was on my way back to my car, I randomly met Nobilis Tobilis and MMMMMMM (sorry man if i missed or added some M's by mistake lol). It was the first time I see M's, and it has been really long since I last saw nobilis. Before we know it, the talk was directly switched from "hey, what's up?" to our daily bread; politics.

I wish I could say otherwise, but the hope that we used to have for this country have significantly decreased, to the point were even hard-asses-stubborn-strong-believers in Liban are doubting their choice of staying in Beirut nowadays.....

Three years ago, we had great hopes, and string believes that Liban is coming back to us. Nowadays, we are wondering where we had lost it...

I don't want to be gloomy, and I sure ain't losing hope in a better future, but one can't miss the "sadness" in this nation's youth....

But again, and with some unexplained resilience, and hard-ass-pure-Lebanese mentality, the three of us agreed that we can never give up, and that we should meet again soon, and bring the lost hope back!

Illogical...some might even say madness....but I have one word to describe it.....

Being Lebanese

God Bless this country and its AMAZING people.....

Nahar Ashabab.... How Come?

I'm a big fan of Nahar Ashabab, ever since it was first founded by the late Gebran Tueni. And I had the honor to be a part of the Nahar Ashabab's Family since its renewal by Nayla Tueni, even though my work in the hospital have drifted me away from the paper as well as my blog (no need to say anything more, you can clearly see how rarely I write nowadays...).

Nevertheless, Thursdays have always been a chance for me to see what's new on Nahar Ashabab, and what new issues are being discussed through this free space by the young generation. But today I was shocked when I saw this advertisement on the second page of this Thursday issue.

I can't understand how a newspaper, dedicated to the young Lebanese, and trying its best to promote better lifestyles and attitudes, can allow tobacco advertisements!!!


I'm not gunna be naive and pretend that smoking among young men and women is a fantasy! I'm very aware of the fact that smoking among teenagers has its highest rates in our region, but that would only mean that we should be doing our best to try to spread awareness about this horrible habit, not to encourage it in such an awful manner!!!

Nahar Ashabab was founded to address the young Lebanese population, aged 12 and above, to try to create a free space and a place for interaction, and it is really horrible to see that such place is being used to advertise for tobacco....

It is out of pure love and respect to Nahar Ashabab, that I decided to write this post today. I hope the editors and policy makers would make sure that such incident is not to be repeated again, for it goes against all the principles and pillars that Nahar Ashabab was founded upon...

UPDATE:
Right after writing my post, I send an E-mail to Nahar Ashabab's official, and he was kind enough to reply to me as fats as this morning.

Here's the reply I got:

DEAR,

I AGREE 100% WITH YOU, I FORWARDED YOUR E-MAIL TO NAYLA AND THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBLE.

REGARDS

I would like to thank Nahar Ashabab's official (his/her name shall be anonymous, since I don't have his/her approval to mention it) for his/her fast and kind response. It's always great to know that there are still people willing to listen and act left in this country...

Snipers My @$$??!!

According to the pro-opposition Assafir newspaper, the so-called snipers are NOT responsible for the casualties!!!???

ولم يقتصر الأمر على المعلومات، بل تم وضع بعض أشرطة «الفيديو» المسحوبة من بعض كاميرات المراقبة لمؤسسات تجارية في المنطقة التي حصلت فيها الاشكالات، وأظهرت في بعضها كيف قُتل بعض الأشخاص ومنهم عناصر في «حزب الله» و«أمل» كانوا يعملون على التهدئة، فضلا عن الكشف الطبي الشرعي الذي أظهر أن معظم الاصابات حصلت عن قرب!

Translation: "The forensic medicine report showed that most of the casualties were shot at from a close range".

I think the best thing to do is NOT to comment....you can come up with your own conclusions......

President Sleiman...No More??

Army men lost in the middle of nowhere??!

What really happened yesterday? A question that needs an answer.

Someone would say: "It's very simple, people are just fed up of all the suffering and injustice they are facing, and they went out on streets asking for their rights. But the Evil hands used this opportunity to start a war that would never end."

Another would argue: "How come such riots ONLY happens in the Opposition-based territories? And HA ones to be exact? And how come that it always comes along a major turning point in the political crises? This was nothing but a political, opposition-aided movement to put more pressure in bargaining."

But one must follow the situation carefully. Right now, everybody is waiting for the Army Commander's next move, while trying their best to gain whatever that can be gained from last night unfortunate incidence.

The opposition, is clearly divided over the matter. HA's Media-arm AlManar is lunching a huge attack on the Army, asking why these "innocent" people were shot at, who gave such orders to "assassinate" civilians, and clearly pointing out fingers towards "traitors" among the Army and the Majority. HA's MP Ali Ammar said: “The blood of the people of the south and of Dahieh cannot be used as a stepping stone by those aspiring to high positions”. Mr. Kmati, also stressed that HA is "questioning" the whole General Sleiman candidacy now, after what happened yesterday.

Amal and FPM officials, on the other hand, tried their best to blame M14, insisting on that the Army is still "The only symbol of National Unity in the country now", and accusing M14 militias (AKA Lebanese Forces) of trying to "break" the historic, strong, and unbreakable ties between the Opposition and the Army. They also put their "100% trust" in the Army once again, as it is doing what should be done to "reveal" the true "traitors" who caused this massacre.

M14 is blaming the Syrain-Iranian axis for the whole mess, claiming that this is nothing but putting more pressure over the Arab summit in Cairo. LF Leader Jeajea stressed that the Army is not to be held responsible, mocking the Opposition's accusations against LF, and stressing that yesterday's riots were organized by the opposition, as such riots ONLY take places in HA's areas. Minister Safadi said that the riots "Used the Electricity cut crisis" to cover the real political goals out of the whole incident yesterday, stressing that "Sheyah area received more electricity than all other areas of Mont Liban yesterday!!!" Majoirty Leader Hariri focused on the "uselessness" of such empty riots, and that such behavior will only drive the country into the unknown.

But the main question remains.... Who were those snipers? How were they ready -all of a sudden- and knew exactly were to hide, and who to kill (an Amal official) ? And how didn't the Army notice them?

Many theories can be applied here. One theory would say that there's a third hand in the process, trying to benefit from the endless instability, to bring the country back to the ages of Civil War. But this theory uses the terms "them, third power, Evil hands" with no true evidence, and thereby, can't be trustworthy.

The opposition-theory says that it is in fact M14 who were behind these snipers, so that they can put the Army into a face-to-face conflict with HA. But such theory can't explain how was M14 able to know when this riot was going to happen, and who they should kill of all the people in it, unless of course, there are people in M8 who are cooperating with M14 to put an end to HA's Arsenal!!!!!

Another theory says that it is part of Syria's new rejection to General Sleiman candidacy. Ghassan Tueni stressed on this point in his editorial, pointing out that the best way to "burn" Sleiman's card is to "eliminate" the Army's neutrality.

Whatever the hidden reasons behind yesterday's clashes, one thing is very clear right now: The county is moving towards full chaos, and the only party that can benefit from such chaos, is the one that would be most hurt if stability is ever regained one day.....

R.I.P

Either You Are Stupid...Or You Are Stupid!!!

I haven't been posting for almost a month now. There are many reasons for that actually. First, it's the holiday season, and talking about dirty politics simply doesn't fit in such a season. Second, I'm really tired and fed up of how things are going, ennu you can't help but to see a dead end, and all of us going no where. But most importantly, I haven't been blogging because lately because there is nothing ingenious going on.

But boy....was I wrong or what?!! After the Arab Foreign Ministers' meeting, the most outstanding, extremely thoughtful, wonderfully mastered, amazingly understandable explanation of that meeting came up to the surface!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the opposition's understanding of the Arab League initiative was that the next cabinet should be of a 10-10-10 formula for it to be balanced, or else it won't be fair, and it will give M14 the power to topple the government, which M8 won't accept at all costs!!!

You see, the idea seems really really really perfect, but for a simple small left-out detail! M14 can topple the Government ANYTIME they want, whether they have 14, 10 or even 6 ministers in the next Cabinet!!!!

Yes, can you believe that??!! How is such an evil thing be true??!! Well, in case you have forgotten (and somehow, this has been the trend among M8 members lately, and if you don't believe me, read the P.S. at the end of this post ) the next Prime Minister will be from M14, and all what s/he needs to do is to resign, and the government will be toppled!!!

Of course, some geniuses of M8 were able to detect such a defect in their perfect explanation, and so, they demanded that the next PM should be a neutral one, so that the evil American-Zionist M14 won't control the fate of the next government.

Let's just say -for the sake of argument- that this can happen, have you morons forgot what M14 have??!! They have the majority in the Parliament!!! They can simply and very easily WITHDRAW CONFIDENCE from the Government, and it will be toppled before you idiots even be able to say: "WHAT THE F***!!".

I just couldn't hold it inside of me much longer, especially when I see highly educated people, congratulating M8 leaders for their last stand and explanations......

P.S.: Have you guys noticed how the last M8's argument about how the constitution is to be amended (that the current government CAN'T make such amendment) has disappeared, and that no opposition leader is talking about it anymore? Weird.....huh?!